Session: 123456789101112131415161718         Page 100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132 of 617

Yes.

But now you've gone into this discussion of you can't govern by committee. Was this tendency to debate so extensively and intensely within the reform clubs, and specifically the VID: is this one of the things that led you to this change?

Well, that's part of it. The other is I have great confidence in my own ability. I have made mistakes -- there's no question about it -- but when I contemplate... What is a district leader? He's not elected by the club. He's elected by the Democrats. 19,000 Democrats may have been my constituency when I first ran -- I just don't remember the number, but it's something like that -- maybe a little more, and 9000 vote in that first '63 election. So who do I take my instructions from? Do I take them from club members, 110 of them who may have all voted, or do I take them from the Democrats who elected me as I perceive what their positions are, or do I do what I do now as a member of Congress? I have the same kind of philosophy as a member of Congress today that I developed ultimately as a district leader, which is this, and I'll give it to you in a very brief way: I believe that people elected me not to be a lever to establish a referendum, that I take a poll in some form and whatever the poll shows, that's how I vote -- not at all. I believe that people elected me because they have decided that I have good judgment, and they want me, or at least they want me more than whoever ran against me; and that they want that judgment expressed.